LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday said the state was cancelling a three-week National Guard training exercise that would have included 4,000 guardsmen while the state's coronavirus infections and deaths continue rising.
Hutchinson announced the cancellation of the training exercise, that had been set to begin Saturday at Fort Chaffee, as officials said the state saw its smallest increase in confirmed cases in a week. The state reported seven more fatalities from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
Maj. Gen. Kendall Penn, the adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard, said a federal rule would have prevented the Guard from purchasing tests for all guardsmen participating in the exercise, not just those showing symptoms.
"That keeps us from being able to mitigate the potential risk of folks who are not symptomatic going home with the disease," Penn said. Penn said the Guard will instead hold smaller training sessions at local armories around the state, with social distancing and other safety measures in place.
The Health Department said at least 21,197 people have tested positive for the virus, an increase of 420 new confirmed cases since Tuesday. The number of active cases, meaning those excluding people who have died or recovered, decreased by 219 to 5,757.
The true number of cases in Arkansas is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick.
The number of people who died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, increased to 277. The number of people hospitalized decreased by 15 to 275.
Though active cases and hospitalizations went down, they remain dramatically higher than when the state began allowing businesses that had closed because of the pandemic to reopen. Active cases have increased 246% since Memorial Day, while hospitalizations have increased 177% during the same time.
Hutchinson continued urging residents to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus, saying it would help ensure high school sports such as football can resume in the fall. Hutchinson, a Republican, has resisted calls to mandate wearing masks statewide. Two cities, however, have enacted their other measures requiring masks to be worn in some public settings.
"There's a connection between the two," Hutchinson said, holding a football and a mask. We wear our masks, we reduce the growth, we stop the spread of the virus and that puts us in a better position to have some kind of team sports this fall."